Wainscoting Designs, Layouts, and Materials

If the chair rail stops at an outside corner or is wider than a door casing, you can finish the exposed end with a return, a small wedge that "returns" the molding to the wall. End the chair rail with a 45-degree cut, as if it were an outside corner. Then, on a scrap piece of chair rail, cut the mating outside miter. To create the wedge, make a 90-degree cut at the point on the scrap stock where the miter begins.